Corona Chronicles - The Lord's Prayer

Welcome to Corona Chronicles. We are gonna conclude our time in the lord's prayer this week, and we're gonna do 2 more sessions. We've got 1 more request to focus on right at the end, and then we're gonna get some overall impressions before we move back onto Mark Scottsport next week. And so we're gonna read from the top verse 9 of Matthew 6. This then is how you should pray.

Our father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. You will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil 1.

Yeah. There we go. Final request. Great stuff. It's been it's been good to I've watched you and Pete.

Steer this ship for the last number of videos. Yeah. And it it it's been good as a reminder because I suspect you said this at the beginning that this is something we're very familiar with. Yes. We could just rattle off.

But as we've seen, you can you can take time as you sort of wade through it, and there's just there's just riches to enjoy as you go through. Mhmm. And it reorientates you. It reboots you. I remember Peter.

It does. Yeah. And that's really been true, I think, as we've, as you've walked through it so far. Yeah. Yeah.

And this last 1 is again drawing us to to what Jesus would have us see in this prayer is that that our priorities should be spiritual priorities. Yeah. We do need to pray for daily bread. In other words, the sustenance we need for each day. Yep.

But right from the very first request, our father in heaven hallowed be your name. Jesus wants our primary concern to be for his glory and his kingdom and his honor. And therefore, it's not a surprise that walking faithfully is gonna be a big part of that. So right at the end here, we've got this leave us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil 1. In other words, these are these are just ordinary disciples, ordinary fishermen, and whatever other jobs they did, but they are involved in a spiritual battle.

Yeah. You know, there is an enemy who would want to distract us from the glory of God. To make our lives about our own kingdoms, to depend upon ourselves, to not forgive but to be cruel. There is an enemy who wants to take us away from these priorities. And Jesus says, you need to be conscious that you're in a war zone.

Yeah. You know? And you need me to to help you. Yeah. Yeah.

And Jesus prays at the end of the 1 of the gospels and he says, my prayer is not that you take my disciples out of the world, but that, you know, they they would be not of the world. And this prayer is sort of a reflection of that. It's it's acknowledging there's temptation out there. It's acknowledging that the evil 1 is active and at work. And it's yeah.

It's it's reminding us that we need to be asking God to protect us from these things. We can't we don't wake up and are ready in and of ourselves -- Yes. -- to have a go at this world -- Yeah. -- to have come on. Come on temptation.

Come on the evil 1. We can't do it by ourselves. Yeah. And I think very often, the the times when we do slip into temptation, it's because we haven't really been praying. Have we diligently?

About this sort of stuff. Like, God, would you would you lead us away from that? Yeah. We think we can survive ourselves, you know. And and that's God lead us away from that.

It's a really helpful way of putting it because some people might say, does will God tempt me to sin? Yeah. You know, and we know from other parts of will that God does not tempt us to sin. So he's not looking down from heaven, working out what would be the best way to get his children to sin. Yes.

You know, we know is completely counter to all that we learn about God. That's right. In fact, the bible is written to us that we would not sin. Yeah. And so what we've got here is an appreciation of the sort of world that we live in.

You know, we live in a world that it's like a minefield. It's spring loaded. With traps all the time. And this is saying, Lord, lead us in those righteous paths. You know, lead in the paths that hallow your name, help us to be mindful and aware of the various traps -- Yep.

-- in this war zone, and help us to walk righteously Yeah. Because in doing that, we bring you we bring you glory. Absolutely. And and remembering that as a disciple is so important. I mean, I'm just read I've just was reading a book this earlier this year, It was a series of war diaries from a soldier who was living in the trenches.

And every day they woke up in the trench in this kind of muddy squalor, you know, with the sound of bombs and machine guns. And every day, wake up knowing you were in a war zone. Right. Whereas for us, you know, we wake up comfortable double wear. Sunday morning.

Yeah. You go downstairs, you know, it's nice. Warm. Yeah. There's nothing warish about it.

No. And yet, if we're followers of Christ in this world -- Yeah. -- we should see it as -- Right. -- by waking up into the trenches. And therefore, this should be our first our first prayer, shouldn't it every day, really?

Yeah. Yeah. And I I think this is, you know, Jesus is teaching us how to pray here. This is not our instinct. Don't wake up like you said.

We don't wake up and go, my goodness me. I'm under assault already. Yeah. But we are. Really?

From the moment, we we wake up because we're not taken out of this world. And there's so many temptations around us aren't there. Mhmm. And we have to ask that the good shepherd who leads us There's also an element where we have to be willing to be led. Yeah.

You know, we're asking God to lead us. Yes. It doesn't just sort of grab us by the year and go -- No. -- come on come on. Come on.

There's there's a there's a responsibility on us as well. That's right. To say, I am going to follow Jesus today. Yeah. And I'm not gonna be distracted by that thing.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's really helpful. And and that these temptations are You know, they they're not neutral, are they? Deliver us from the evil 1.

Right. It shows us who's behind these temptations and snares. And it is it is satan and and his sort of his his forces, really. And the encouragement here, I mean, I was thinking 1 of my favorite hymns is a mighty fortress by my in Luther. And in 1 of the last verses, it says this.

And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us. That's what we need to be aware of. Yeah? Should threaten to undo us. We will not fear for God hath ruled his truth to triumph through us.

That's great. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, for low his doom is sure. 1 little word, 1 little word shall fell him. And I just love that. The reason that we can endure his rage is because we know his doom is short.

Yeah. And so when we pray deliver us from evil, we're not saying, you know, crumbs, satan could could win the day over me today. Yes. We know that he is a defeated enemy. And this is asked that the lord would would help us to walk in his ways every day -- Yeah.

-- to live out the victory life, sure, that he has already won. Yes. It's a prayer. You can pray with absolute confidence as well, but, isn't it? You know, deliver us from the evil 1.

Thanks, Peter God, that he, you know, has delivered us and and will deliver ultimately. I guess it's it's it's the same kind of thing is forgive us today our daily sorry. Forget us our debts. Mhmm. Our daily debt.

Yeah. Absolutely that as well. But forgive us our debts. We're not we're not that's not in any way saying that we wake up and our debts are re Yes. On the table.

Unpaid for innocence. Yeah. But there is the this is this is the walk of the Christian. Every day, we get up, we have a contrite, sorrowful heart before God and we ask him to forgive us. Yeah.

And in the same way, though our deliverance is sure. Yeah. There's something in walking step by step day by day -- Absolutely. -- praying -- Yeah. -- father would you deliver me from the evil 1 today?

Day. Yeah. I think that's really right. And that's a good place to leave it, I think. And And so wherever wherever you're watching this, you know, whether you're in your home or at work or whatever you are, and you're a follower of the Lord Jesus.

You need to know that your day will be full of temptations. All kinds of different temptations. And although our different contexts may not feel like war zones, we are in them. And so this prayer has got to be a priority for us, leads not into temptation but deliver us from the evil 1. And in our next session, we'll just talk generally about the big things that have struck us in this mini series.